Veep

Veep satirizes politics by focusing on what the general public enjoys seeing the most: the mistakes. Everything Selina Meyer (Julia Louis Dreyfus) does is analyzed, transformed into an offense, and spit back at her via the skewed prism of Twitter and never-ending public opinion polling, from foot-in-mouth moments to missent paperwork to squeaky shoes. They never state Meyer's political affiliation, therefore it's not surprising that they have a wide range of political supporters. Veep keeps faithful to exposing those who are more eager to be in a position of power than to have any significant social influence.

Dreyfus might be the funniest person now watching TV. She is willing to give something her all, and she has a tendency to go things beyond the superficially cute into the actually terrible and unpleasant. Instead of walking into glass doors, Selina Meyer smashes them, then stands in a heap of broken glass as her face is covered in bloody cuts. She makes poor decisions, dons awful headwear, gets a Dustin Hoffman hairstyle, and is unable to travel internationally without making a major social faux pas. And Selina is at her most awful as a character when she is egotistical, more interested in winning friends than advancing legislation, and attributing errors to her staff. Tony Hale's portrayal of Selina's "bag guy" Gary is delightfully depressing, and Reid Scott's portrayal of Dan Egan is so icy ambitious that every failure feels like a triumph. However, Veep's ace in the hole is Anna Chlumsky's Amy, whose Olympic-level response faces make fun of everyone else for their unintentionally selfish remarks. In addition, some of the top improvisers in America make guest appearances in the smaller recurring roles. It truly is the dream team for comedy nerds.

Years: 2012-present
Creator: Armando Iannucci
Stars: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole
Network: HBO